Light heavyweight champion Andre Ward likes the upcoming mega-fight between former middleweight title holder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on May 6 on HBO pay-per-view. Ward thinks that the 30-year-old Chavez Jr. (50-2-1, 32 KOs) could be hurt by the weight loss for the fight, as he needs to get down to 164 ½ lb. catch-weight limit that Canelo’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions asked for in order for the fight to take place. Chavez Jr. has looked skeletal in recent years in trying to make 168, and he’s failed to make the weight on 3 occasions. Now he’s expected to get even lower at 164.5 for the Canelo fight. The loss of weight could be the telling factor. Ward thinks it could be too much weight for Chavez Jr. to be able to lose without it weakening him. That’s obviously the intention. Golden Boy has things tilted ever so slightly in the favor of their fighter Canelo for this fight. If Chavez Jr. is able to make the weight without being weakened horribly, then it could be a miscalculation on Golden Boy’s part by not asking for even more weight loss on Chavez Jr’s part. “This is an interesting fight,” said Ward to Fightype.com about the Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. match on May 6. “You have a bigger man in Chavez Jr., but he’s losing a lot of weight, a lot of weight he hasn’t lost in a while. It’s going to affect him. How much we don’t know. Canelo is kind of bulking up a little, but going up in weight. It’s a tricky fight, but you have to take your hat off to Canelo for taking the risk. He doesn’t get a lot of credit. Not only does he continue to fight the best, but he has a lot of pressure on him representing his country. He can fight and he can bang. He’s a lot better boxer than some people give him credit for,” said Ward. Read more http://www.boxingnews24.com/2017/04/chavez-canelo-weight-loss/
